Dear Birthday Boy,

Happy 9th birthday Jonas!  A whole year has gone by since your last birthday - duh (I get that word from Grandma Dixie if you're wondering).  Again, it was another year that you grew and had many wonderful experiences to help you learn about life - some of them good and fun, others hard and more challenging.  But all of them are helping to develop you - and you're turning out pretty great so I guess things are going well.

So, like every year, your birthday just sneaks up on me - well, not necessarily your birthday, but definitely writing your birthday letter.  Every year it's the same and the night before I'm writing your letter.  Actually, in New York (your birth place), it's already your birthday!  So I'm late!

But . . . you should be super glad I did not get to this last week.  It may have been the worst week of your life.  Or my life - however way you look at it.  You were so horrendous I wondered if I'd need to deliver you to the loony bin.  I really thought you were psychotic - to put it nicely.  :)  I'm not going to go in to all the details (I do not want to re-live them), but it involved a new board game our family got and your obsession with wanting to play it and your subsequent TANTRUMS (yes, plural) when we told you "Not now."  WOW, Jonas.  You're not even a tantrum-thrower, so it was quite weird.  But you were much better this week and so this letter will probably be much nicer towards you.  :)

You're a pretty darn good kid and we love having you around.  You're funny!  Like the video I just posted with you and Lucy.  You know, "I like to move it, move it.  I like to move it, move it."  Lucy lip-synced to you saying it.  It's one of my favorite things to watch these past few days!  It's just fun - like you.  It was totally random and awesome.  Like you.

You are so cute and sweet and good with little kids.  I watch this little 6ish-month girl, Wren, a few times a week and you just love to make her smile!  And guess what, you totally do make her smile!  Last week you could hardly do your homework because you kept sneaking out of your room and doing silly things to make Wren smile.  You just wanted to play with her and hold her.  You got to feed her once and you loved that.  It's so cute, Jonas.  You'll make a fantastic father one day.

You recently made popsicle-stick skis for our elf, Eljin.  Once, when we were hiking, you and I were together and you just told me all about the many things you were going to make for Eljin - like houses, ice rinks, cars, airplanes, etc.  You actually did this last year (told me everything you were going to make for Eljin while hiking together).  But you never did make anything.  So I'm glad you kept a little bit of your word and made something for Eljin.  They are pretty cool and I'm sure he'll enjoy skiing thanks to you.  :)

You continue to do well at school - though you are by no means a model student.  I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way - you've got a fun personality and you let that shine at school as well.  You have the same teacher that Miles had in 3rd grade and she was so surprised those first few weeks of school to see how different you are from Miles.  But she enjoys you and your personality - though she could probably handle a little less chatting with your best-friend Ivan.  You are in the gifted and talented program at school and love going to the "class" each Tuesday.  There are some interesting dynamics with you and Miles both being in it.  You're smart and do like a challenge - but doing daily homework (even though you have the least of all my school-kids) is just sooooo hard for you to do.  Not because it's actually hard, but just because it's homework.

For the most part, we can count on you to be good and make good choices.  I, and your dad, definitely appreciate that in you.  We love having you as a party of our crazy family.

I love you.
love,
mom

Lucy and Jonas make a Video

I posted these on facebook, but I want to here as well.  They are some of my favorite videos!  Love them!

The Letter N

Preschool was at my house this week.  I love getting on Pinterest and finding ideas.  It makes my Pinterest-habit seem more productive.  :)

We're on the letter N and so our activities included reading the Nutcracker, making a paper N with a bird and nest, eating graham crackers with Nutella, playing several Number games (Gingerbread dice game and what I call Santa Bingo), making a Nativity suncatcher, and finally reading a book on the Nativity.  Plus I was nice and let them play.  :)

 Playing the gingerbread dice game.  Found here.

 

Playing Santa Bingo.  It was fun!  Especially once you got bingo and got to eat the marshmallows.  :)  Idea found here.

Lucy and her nativity suncatcher.  Idea found here.

It takes time and work to get everything together, but it's definitely worth.  I'm lucky I get to do this with Lucy!

2014 Maxwell Kids' Wishlists

So I just asked them one day what they wished for this Christmas (although I'd done a lot of their Christmas "shopping" at Amazon already).  Here is what we got:

Lucy:
"A dollhouse, purse, tap shoes, and maybe a little bit of dolls."

Emmy:
She is so hard!  She just can't figure out what she wants.  She went to a friend's birthday party last week and when asked about what gifts the birthday girl got she told me My Little Pony stuff.  Then Emmy said, "I think I've grown out of those."  Cutie.  Here is what she did come up with:
"A long hair wig, no homework for the week (I asked during homework time), and a toy ipod thing."

Jonas:
He didn't take any time nor breaths when asked.
"A tablet, nerf gun, a swivel skateboard, and Minecraft on my tablet - if I get one."

Miles:
"A bird, Christmas lights, a big Star Wars lego set - the AT-AT walker, a book by Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

A wonderfully fun Thanksgiving

Oh our Thanksgiving was a delight.  We actually have cousins that live in the same state as us - a first!  Ben's brother Joe and his family just moved to Littleton about a month ago.  They live about 15 minutes from where Ben's parents' home is at.  So we stayed at the grandparents' home, but had our good share of hanging out at the cousins' home as well!  Besides Miles (and he was around 1 each time), none of my kids have ever gone to their cousin's house.  So it was a big deal.  It's always great staying with grandma Diana and grandpa Jim - so it was an extra bonus to have Joe and Britt and cousins there, too.

We got up there Wednesday evening and everyone just hung out that night.

On Thursday (Ben got to go running with me each morning we where there - awesome!) we did a few things around the house and then went over to see Joe and Britt's new home.  It's such a beautiful home - they found a good one, for sure.  Ben and I got the tour - while our kids ran amok, having a wonderful time!  We went back to Jim and Diana's for Thanksgiving dinner and that was pretty perfect - especially the rolls (which are my favorite part of T. dinner, of course :).

Since the weather was so spring-like, the kids rode their scooters (all 8 of them - the 4-year old to the almost-16 year-old) to a school and played on the crazy rope apparatus.  We had fun watching them.  We got back and then went over to Joe and Britt's for dessert.  Yummy.  Then we put in our Maxwell tradition movie, Jack Frost (the old-school one) and I think everyone enjoyed themselves - but I fell asleep during it . . .

Friday we met up with the cousins at the ice-skating rink around noon.  It was really fun being on skates again!  Jonas apparently fell pretty hard - by the time I came by him some older people were talking with him and told me he fell.  To make a long story short, he forgot all about the fell and may or may not have gotten a slight concussion.  But all was well - just a little weird with Jonas.

After that we went to a park, which is sort of connected to Columbine High School - where Sam (the oldest cousin) goes to school now.  The kids just rode and rode their scooters all around and just had a blast!  We even rode to a park and they played and played and then we had to ride and ride back to the car.  Lucy could definitely hold her own on scootering with everyone else.  :)

Joe and Britt made a yummy dinner for us that night and we enjoyed eating at their home and visiting with each other.  The kids watched the new Muppet movie - I just can't remember that exact name.

On Saturday we went on a hike nearby - it was like 70-degrees or something!  Just crazy.  That was nice.  Diana's sister Gail, from Montana, was in town with her family - including her husband, a few kids, and a grandson.  Some of them stopped in on Saturday evening - as they made their way to the airport to fly back home.  It was fun to see them and have them see/meet our kids and Joe and Britt's kids, too.

Sunday was freezing!  We decided to go to Joe and Britt's ward and it was a chilly 22 degrees as we walked to and ffrom the church.  Brrrr - especially after a 70-degree day!  We enjoyed being with Joe and Britt at their ward.  Our kids all sat behind us and behaved very well, if I do say so myself.  :)

Then we pretty much drove home - which was pretty much uneventful.  Which is a good thing!  But I did visually notice a weight being dropped on Ben as we neared closer and closer to Montrose.  Seriously, his disposition just sort of drooped.  It's a heavy mantel he has been asked to wear.  It's always nice when he gets to hang it up for a few days at least . . . :)

It was a blast of a Thanksgiving.  We are truly blessed in many way - family being one our greatest blessings for sure!

My pictures are from all sorts of sources and so they will just be random and not in any order!

 How many cousins can you get on a see-saw?!  (A few seconds later there was an crash - with sweet Grace (back girl on the left) getting bumped off and Jonas slamming in to the bar.  This was the same day as Jonas' mini-concussion.  It was not his day!

 The kids would start at the top of the switch-back sidewalk and scooter down.  Then they would pick up their scooter, walk up the steps, and do it all over again.  They probably did it like a dozen times!

Finally (for Ben's sake) the kids played some Uno!

 This was a game of Turkey tag - it seemed like they all had fun!

More Turkey tag.

And more - this time with Ben in the game.

Cute ice-skater Lucy.

Uncle Joe helping Lucy out.

Our skating crew - pretty cute!

Our lovely Thanksgiving dinner.

We played some play-do pictionary/sculptionary at Joe and Britts.  The kids really had fun.  My favorite part was that Lucy and Emma won the first 2 times.  Awesome.

Wilson!

Here is Diana, her sister Gail, brother-in-law Tom, Ben (check out the beard he got to grow for a week and a half!) and me.

Grandma Diana and her sister Gail.  Such beautiful ladies.

Aunt Brittany and Grace.  We sure do love them!

Cutie pie Lucy.

Some more uno!

It was a super fantastic weekend.

The first weekend in December now equals a girls-weekend trip to Moab to run the Winter Sun 10K.  This was the 2nd year that we've done it.  Last year I did it with 5 gals - this year we had 5, too.  With just one gal that had moved and she didn't run it, but we added another great gal in her place - Heather!  It was really such a great weekend!  We left early on Friday morning (Lucy went to play at a friend's house all day) and made it to the Monticello temple for their 12:15 session.  That was nice.  Then we drove to Moab, stopped in at City Market for some items, and then checked in to our condo (same one we stayed at last year - as well as the one my family stayed at with my parents when I ran Thelma and Louise).  It's a great place!  We made some dinner, picked up our race packets, then came back and ate our dinner and chatted the night away.  It was lovely and fun and funny.  :)

 Here we are all in our race shirts.  Jeni, Heather, me, and Kandace, with wild Sarah behind us all.  :)  (Too bad the shirts had the wrong date printed on them!  Oh well!)

 Here's our group again - on Saturday morning.  It was so much warmer than our 20-degree and snowing race last year.  This is pre-race.  Our shirts said:  "10K Mommy.  6.2 miles of Peace."  On the back it said:  "I sure hope there is someone behind me reading this!"  (Or something close to that.)
We just barely made it from the port-a-potties and then it was time to run!  Yay!

 We all finished - of course.  Jeni, Sarah, me, Kandace, and Heather.  I think we all did better than we thought - so that's awesome.  I got a PR (personal record) time of 52:13.  I paid for it once I stopped running - I was a little queasy and not quite feeling good.  But after some chocolate milk and 10 minutes, I was doing better!  My body is much happier at a slow-and-steady 10-minute mile pace.  But it sure was fun to push it to an 8:15-minute mile pace.  I felt good during the race - I knew I was pushing it for me, but it wasn't too much.  Anyways, enough talk about me.

We grabbed some lunch and then headed back home.  It was super fun just hanging out and chatting with these gals.  I'm excited for next year already!  :)

I got home and Ben told me how he'd been up since 2:30 am with a headache, so I told him to nap while I took the kids to the Parade of Lights.  The Parade of Lights was super and then we came back home an hour later to a napped-Ben.  :)

The kids had fun while I was gone - though Ben didn't get out when he thought on Friday and so Lucy had quite a long day without being with her family.  I think she felt it, but did good overall.  Ben took the kids to cut down our Christmas tree on Saturday morning.  There was snow and so that was fun for everyone.  Ben forgot the camera and so we don't get to see any of that adventure.  :(  But the tree is super.

Anyways, we are now on to another super busy week - full of cub scout field trips, hosting preschool, mailing out Christmas cards, planning a birthday ski-day for Jonas, buying gifts for Jonas' b-day (on Sunday), wrestling, gymnastics, school music performance, ward party to organize, Wren to watch, etc., etc. etc.

Welcome to December!

Ouray

Remember how Ben and I went to Ouray for the night?  Yeah, it seems many whines-ago to me, too!  But we had somehow deleted these pictures, then - after I clicked "Delete All Images" on my camera - these showed back up!  So weird.  Anyways, here was our fun room:

This was just a funny shop that had a dog out on the 2nd-story ledge.  :)  Gotta love Ouray!

Lucy

Lucy decided to build one morning:

Nevermind November. . .

Life

Here are a few random pictures of things going on in our lives.

For part of Miles' cub scout Artist achievement, he drew this cool 3-D image.  I love it.  I found it on pinterest and the boys had a lot of fun doing it.

Miles earned his Webelos badge at our last pack meeting.  Awesome.  Now we're hoping to earn his Arrow of Light before he becomes an 11-year old scout.

 My parents came over this past weekend and we had a really great time.  Ben and I were able to escape to Ouray on Friday and stayed the night there.  We enjoyed playing Rumikub and Scrabble and just having an absence of chaos for a little bit.  :)  My parents met us in Ouray on Saturday and we walked around there.  Sunday was the primary program and so my parents got to see that.  My kids did good!  Emmy and Lucy were perfect.  Jonas had a problem with itchy eyes and his teacher had to move his hands out of his face while he was talking (I think he gets itchy eyes when he's nervous . . .).  Miles had one of the biggest parts (he is the oldest boy in Primary) - which included the 13th article of faith.  He memorized it all and even included "kind" in the article of faith.  I was just glad he didn't say, ". . . we follow the ammunition of Paul . . ." as he did when he first began practicing.  :)  But he did a great job.

Sunday was full of games.  The older group played some Harry Potter Clue - which my dad won.  Then the kids really got in to UNO.  They played and played with my parents.  Even Lucy could pretty much hold her own (not her cards, though - 7+ are too many for her small hands!).  But the best part of the game?  What my dad calls it:  "YOU-NO."  Awesome.

 I am watching a little girl named Wren (actually her name is Ila - just like our niece - but her parents call her by her middle name).  She's cute.  But doesn't like to be put down.  At all.  She cries within 5 seconds of me putting her down.  She is actually comforted when I hold her.  After the kids hold her for a bit, she starts crying.  But calms down when she's back with me.  When Ben looks at her, she starts crying.  But calms down as I hold her and take her away from Ben.  :)  She's a cutie.

 Not only was this Jonas' (and Emmy's) first time giving a baby a bottle, it was also mine!  It's so easy and fast!  Wren loves eating.  Her feet start pumping and such as soon as she sees me get our her bottle.  It's great.

 Today is Wacky Hair Day.  Awesome.  Miles went with an "electrified" look - he has a battery and some wire in his hair.  Jonas went with the punk look.  Of course.  And Emmy fell in love with this style found on pinterest.  And, thus, so did Lucy.  There are cups under their hair.  And lots of hairspray (no idea where that came from!?) and gel.  Fun, fun!

And that's our wacky lives right now!